gaining flexibility

[Azmyth]

Hi,

 

I'm a Blue Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I am testing for high rank blue next month, or should be. I am doing Double kicks, axe kick, hook kick, skipping kicks, reverse round house, and Won Hyo form. My Problem is.. I can do all the kicks great with my left leg, but my right leg is not so up to par. I feel it pull when I try to do the kicks with the same effort as my left and fall short on the quality of the kicks. I want to get my right leg up to speed with my left. I'm afraid once I start getting to jumping spinning kicks later on.. if my right leg is not worked out and at the same level as my left its going to be very difficult to do those kicks. What can I do to loosen up my right leg so that I can kick faster, and higher. I am 6'1" so I'm a tall guy. I can kick head height with most kicks on my left.. but barely can get shoulder height with my right. I wanna fix this. Thanks!

[DLopez]

I find it's a two-step process.

 

Stretching excercises for the hammy and groin area are helping me get more flexible there, but I also do excercises to strengthen the specific muscles in my legs that I use to kick. Being flexible is great, but if your leg muscles are too weak to lift your leg, you haven't gained that much.

 

Also, it doesn't change overnight. I have noticed definite improvement since I've begun, but it is slow progress as my body is still fighting me.

 

Some days I'm nice and loose, but other days I'm so tight it feels like I'm starting back at square one.

[SBN Doug]

I'm going to move this to the fitness forum, and point you to the sticky at the top. Lots of links to all of the topics already started on stretching. Lots of good answers out there.

 

http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=6186

[Dijita]

Here's a stretch that really loosens everything up. If you do this often, I'm sure you will get very flexible.

 

Get a partner, stand up against a wall and put your foot on your partners shoulder (your partner should be crouched down at this point). Do it so that you are doing a kick. If you are doing a side kick, stand in a side kick position. Now get your partner to stand up and tell him to stop when you feel it stretch. Make sure that the foot that is planted on the ground is in the proper position too. Now with your leg stretched, count to 10 and push forward and down at the same time as hard as you can. It should be difficult and you'll feel the stretch quiet a bit. Do this 3 or 4 times, then do it with the other leg.

 

Hehe, when you put your leg down... you should almost feel like you want to stay in a horse stance, so give a few more kicks and you'll feel your hip is a lot more looser now. It works great!

 

I hope this made sense, it's always hard to describe something in writing sometimes.

[aefibird]

That's a good stretch technique. I try to do that as often as I can with a willing victim, oops, I mean partner, to hold my leg.

 

Azmyth, try to stretch every day, twice a day if possible. Remember, you'll not see results overnight, so be patient. Also, don't just do stretches from cold - you'll need to have done some form of warm up before hand. It helps prevent injuries and also you'll be able to strech further if you're warmed up.

 

Good luck with your high blue belt test!

[G Money Slick]

Man stretching is mandatory in any sport, not just martial arts. Hell, it's recommended to stretch before a golf match.

 

I've found using two chairs and stretching the inner thighs is the best method for developing elevation on sidekicks.